Gun safety is a widespread and overriding issue in today's society and one of the biggest concerns is gun control. These concerns include accidental shootings, the use of guns by children, suicide, possession of firearms by criminals, and the shooting of police officers and law enforcement agents with the officer or agent's own weapon while in the line of duty.
Another area of concern is the complete prevention of accidental discharge of weapons so as to avoid unintentional injuries or death. For example, weapons may come into the hands of children or inexperienced firearm users, which may then be accidentally or improperly discharged, resulting in death or serious injury. Police officers, security guards, correctional facility officers and other law enforcement officers typically carry a firearm for their own protection as well as the protection of others. Such law enforcement officers may be continually exposed to situations where potential assailants must be physically confronted or detained. During the process of being confronted or detained, potential assailants may have the chance to take the officer's firearm away from him. The officer then faces the risk that the assailant will use his own firearm against him.
Typically, people on both sides of the gun control issue support the development of devices which prevent unauthorized gun use. Such restrictions may commonly be endorsed as means for preventing gun use by children and criminals. Accordingly, efforts have been made to incorporate firearms with devices, which may restrict or control use.
Devices have been developed to address this need for firearm safety devices. There have been numerous attempts to improve gun safety by use of mechanical safety locks. Some of the initial attempts at safety were by the design of trigger locks. The trigger lock is traditionally operated by a key and prevents the firearm from being used unless the lock is removed. However, if someone has access to the key, the trigger lock can be removed and the firearm discharged. Accordingly, it does not eliminate firearm use by a child or intruder. Furthermore, if the lock is not used, the firearm may be discharged by anyone who has access to the firearm.
Historically, manufacturers of firearms have attempted to develop safety systems that may aid in the prevention of the unintentional discharge of firearms, such as a grip safety. It may require that the shooter to depress the grip safety sufficiently before the firearm can be fired. Thus, an unintentional trigger pull that could occur from dropping or other mishandling of the firearm would not allow the firearm to fire because the grip safety would have to be depressed also. If the grip safety is not properly gripped, it may not be depressed sufficiently to allow the firearm to be fired.
A thumb safety operates by manually shifting the safety lever from its “safe” position to its “fire” position. A grip safety is automatically shifted to its “fire” position when the user's hand engages the stock or handle of the weapon.
Other types of devices may utilize personalized data. For example, some gun safety devices may use finger or hand print data in identifying authorized users and enabling operation. Similarly, others may use voice recognition circuitry for identifying authorized users and enabling operation. Pressure sensing grip sensors may be used to determine if the gripping pattern matches the pattern of an authorized user of the firearm. That is, it suggests using the pattern of how the authorized user grips the firearm as a means of recognizing him. These concepts may use pressure sensors as grip sensors.
Another safety mechanism for a firearm may consist of a specialized scanning mechanism built into the firearm's trigger. The scanner may be programmed to read the unique fingerprints of a given individual. The device may be capable of holding the programmed print information for more than one person, so that multiple people would be able to use the firearm. However, usage may be limited to only those persons whose hand prints have been pre-stored in the scanner. The scanner mechanism may be connected to the firearm's safety lock, whereby the safety may be prevented from being released without proper authorization from the scanner. When a person grips the weapon and places his finger on the trigger, the pressure of the finger on the trigger may activate the scanner, and the scanner reads the fingerprint to determine if the scanned fingerprint matches one of the pre-stored fingerprint images. If the individual is an authorized user, the scanner may transmit a signal to the safety, releasing this device and activating the firearm for use.
Prior firearm safety systems have certain drawbacks or disadvantages. Therefore, there is a need for an improved firearm safety system, such as a system that may be computer assisted for safety, accountability, and public safety. The desired solution may prevent gun violence that can be established without eroding citizens' rights to own and/or carry firearms.